richardchatten

Tom Hanks repeats his one-man show in 'Cast Away' as a solitary survivor succumbing to radiation sickness in this post-apocalyptic road movie set soon enough after the cataclysm that corpses are still reasonably intact and electricity and petrol are still in abundance.

Amidst this desolation we discover a threesome - foursome if you count a cute little fellow answering to the name of Dewie - making their way across a blasted landscape to San Francisco. While in addition to Hanks is man's best friend - in the form of a pooch answering to the name of Goodyear - upon whose behalf Hanks adds a fourth directive concerning treatment of dogs when issuing instructions to an endearingly gangling robot called Jack, with a face resembling a Chirico mannequin and a voice initially reminiscent of Steven Hawking.

Terry Gilliam was limbering up for portraying a dystopian future in 'Brazil' when he to took a detour to make this fanciful depiction of history.

Sundry bona fide film luminaries lent their presence to this production - notably Sean Connery as Agamemnon and Ralph Richardson portraying God as an abstracted old duffer in a waistcoat - but the best piece of casting has to be David Warner as a hi-tech Satan, forever exasperated by His disinclination to move with the times.

Coming towards the end of Basil Dearden's final international phase - reflected by the presence in the cast of Telly Savalas, Philippe Noiret and Curt Jurgens - this boisterous frolic reminiscent of the earlier 'The Wrong Box' employed a freewheeling style more characteristic of the time it was made than when it was set.